Belt-fastener.



,G. H. SMITH.

BELT FASTENBR.

APPLIOATTON PIL-En APR, 23, 190?.

928,556, Patented July 20, 190:

In ven tor WE KM Attorneys.

GEORGE HILTON SMITH, OF EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO ACME. BELTIN(1 COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

BELT-FASTENTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 20, 190th. This. application filed April 23, 19M.

. Serial No. M93767.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, GEORGE l-lnrron Siurn, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, residing at'blaston, county of Northampton, State ofPennsylvania, United States of America, have invented an Improved Belt-Festener, of which the following is a specifi cation.

The object l have in View is the production of a. fastener for power,conveyor and other belts, which will be durable, extremely strong, cheapto manufacture and easily atinched to the belt.

Further objects will appear from the following specificotion andaccompanying drawings taken together or separately.

This application is a continuation 'of an- 'application for patent filedby me December 17, 1906,.Serial No. 348,231.

I attain these objects by the device illustroted in the drawings, inwhiol1- Figure l is a perspective View of a stamping from which the beltfastener embodying my invention is made. Fig. 2 is a perspec tive viewof the same fastener bentto the shape it assumes before being attachedto the belt. 3 is a View in section of the end of a belt and a fastenershowing'thc parts in position before any of the prongs of the fosteuerare driven into the belt. Fig. l is a View in section of: the end of abelt and a fastener applied thereto, the parts being in the secondposition they assume during the operation of attachment. Fig. 5 is asimilar View showing the fastener permanently attached lo the end of abelt. Fig. 6 is a sec tion of two ends of a belt connected together andon a pulley showing the pintle in place.

F1 7 is a to 3 View of the same showing two fasteners for each end of abelt, which belt 1s wider than one fastener; and Fig. 8 1s a perspectiveView of a modified form of the fastener shown 1n Fi 2.

In all the views like parts are designated by thesame referencecharacters.

In carrying out my invention, I make, by stamping or otherwise, a memberof a single piece of material, preferably sheet metal with integralprongs. Each fastener is made of two members, each of a single piece, asshown in Fig. 1, the two mei'nbers each be- 111g connected to anabutting end of the belt to be fastened, and the two members beingsecured together by a pintle.

lit

tween the base of the projections lend 5 is left solid for a space ofabout the thickness of thefbeltt-o-which the fastener is to be attached.Between the hose the prongs it and 3 and the bars ihthe material is leftuncut a suliicient distance in order to form a foundation or backing theprongs 2 an l 3. The sides of the greens are shown as tapering to nclnseledgc shown in i. and 2 or to a Joint on; shown in F1". 8 so thatthey may be easily driven into the bolt.

The prongs 2 and 3 else taper for the some reason.

The blank shown in Fig. it may be formed in a single operation bystanipin It is then, either in the some or in a subsequent operation,bentto the term shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The barn ti e are bent, atsubstantially :1 right the point of bending being adjacent to thefingcrs 5. The bend.

is preferably made upon a gradual sweep so as to form a curve 6. Thecurve is made for the purpose of reducing friction where the pintlgee.The lingers 5-5 are bent abruptly t a right angle to the base of themember and in the some direction in which the bars itl are bent. Theprongs l--l are also bent at an angle to the hose so that they will benearly parallel to the fingers 5-5. The angle of bend is slightly than aright angle, so that the prongs 1 will. slightly incline toward thefinger, 5. The prongs 2-3 are bent upward at an angle to the base, asshown inFigsQand 3.

The angle of bond is also preferably slightly less than a'right angle,so that the prongs 2 and 2? will inclineslight-ly toward the curve 6.Tlhe short prongs 2-2 are bent close to the body of the member and v thelonger prongs 3--3' at a greater distance away so that the ends of theprongs 2 and 3 will project substantially the same distancebeyond thebase ofthe member when the latter is bent to the position shown in Figs.2 and Theprongs 1, f2, and 3 are adapted" to be ,its two sides. 'clinedthey would be driven in diagonally owing to the tiltin 'belt, as shownin Fig.

-2 and 3. These=additional prongs are made to lie hetwent e bars M. Thisform of fastener has a somewhat stronger anchorage than that previouslydescribed, and is desirable forjuse in connection with heavier belts,

The manner in which the vfasteners are secured to the belt is shown inFigs. 3, 4:

.and 5.- A member is applied to the end of the belt by engaging the edgeof the latter with the fingers 5, the points of the prongs 11 restingupon one of the sides of the belt, as shown in Fig. 3. The fingers 5serve as means for alining the members and the end of the belt andprevent the members being put too close to the end of the belt. Theprongs 1 are now driven into the side of the belt. The inclination ofthe prongs l is important, as there is a tendency of the member to tiltupon the anvil While. the prongs are being driven into the belt, whichtilting causes the prongs to pass directly through the belt on a line atright angles to Were the prongs not so inof the member, which would beundesirab e, as the prongs 'would havean imperfect hold within the beltand would be unable to carry as great a load. That-portion of thefingers 5 which extends above the belt will now be bent down over theend of the belt enga ing with the upper face of the latter. As 5 own inFig. 4,0ne of the fingers 5 is shown bent to this latter position, andanother is shown in the original unbent vertical position. After thefingers 5'are bent down over the upper face of the belt, the ends of theprongs are clenched.-

bent at the curve 6, so

The member is now that the prongs 2 and 3 can be driven into the otherside of the belt. In order to keep the o ening at the curve 6 of theproper"size and s ape to allow the pintle to turn within it, the pintlecan be may be introduced. for the purpose of defining the curve to theshape of the pintle. The pron s 2 and 3 being driven through the belt, tey will have their sharp extremities clenched within the lower side ofthe 5. The other end of the belt will be provided with a. similarmember, andrthe two will be secured together by means of a pintle 7. Theclenching may lengths a staggers placed in that position whenthefastencr is being bent, or a mandrel .of the belt.

be done in any way, as by means of a hammer and auanvil.

,As many fasteners as are desired may be used. .\s shown in Fig. 7, twomembers on each end of the belt are employed. They may be made' wider ornarrower than shown, and the number for each bolt is unlimited.

As shown in the recesses between the bars l, so that a substantiallyunbroken metal surface is produced on this side. The other side willalso be an unbroken metallic surface. This adds greatlyto the life ofthefastener.

Another important feature of my invention resides in making the fastenerwith a grasp on both sides of the belt through a connection whichextends along both sides of the belt and away from the end of thebelt,one of such connections being longer than the other.

Referring to Fig. 6, it will be seen that that portion of thememberwhich carries the prongs 2 and 3 extends a greater distance fromthe end of the belt than that portionwhich carries the prongs 1. This isa veryl important improvement as it gives an anc orage on both sides ofthe belt and at the same time keeps the fastener away from the pulley.As shown in Fig. 6, the pulley 8 comes in contact with the belt only andnot with any portion of the fastener, at least, with only a smallportion of that part of the fastener which carries the prongs 11.Therefore there will be no objectionable blow caused by a large portionof the fastener coming into contact with the pulley,

Fig. 7, the fingers 5 rest in which would be the case if the fastenerextended equally on both sides of the belt, or

of the weak and inadequate anchorage if the fiaitener extended on oneside 'only of the e t. I

The bars t adjacent to the end of the member that carries the. 'rongs 2and 3 are best increased in width, t 1e sides of the cutaway portionsbeing made on curved lines, as shown, so as to secure as great an amountof material at this point as is possible. By making the pron s 2 and. 3of dill'erent construction is produced so that contiguous prongs do notpass through the belt on'the same straightline. This prevents the sidesof the prongs from cutting the sides of the belt, and therefore resultsin a very much stronger construction. Any tendency of the fastener topull away from the end of the belt is resisted by the engagement of theprongs 1, 2 and 3. The ron s 1 are reinforced in their grip on the elt ythe fingers 5, which effectually prevent the prongs 1 from pulling outoi? the end The fastener is best made of metal sufficiently stout so'that it will have enough stiffness to retain the shape given. to it whenit is applied to the end of the belt.

the prongs 1'into the proper place on the belt. Without the fingersthere would be liability of the" prongs being entered too near the endof the belt. There would also be liability of the prongsbeing entered'too far from the end of the belt, thus interfer ing with the properlocation of. the pintle;

. WVere the prongs too near the end of'the-belt,

insufficient anchorage for the fastener would be the result. The fingers5, after being bent over the sides of the belt also assist in holdtheirbeing drawn oath;

The fastener has an additional advantage,

By making it of sheet metal of adequate.

ing the prongs 1 in position and prevent strength, I find thatits Weightis substantially equal to the wei htfof that portion of the belt whichis displaced by the presence of the fastener. This similarity of Weightsof belt and fastener is made possible by the structure which permits enagement with both sides of the belt and am: orage in three or moreplaces. The fastener is therefore madevery light, so that-it will weighno I more than that portion of the belt displaced portions of the beltweig by the fastener; therefore, that ortion of the belt carrying thefastener wil travel as easil and turn as freel ing the same.

In attaching the fastener to the belt, it is advisable to apply themember or members to one end of the belt before applying them to theother end; for instance, Where twofasteners are shown, as in Fig. 7, twoof the members are first applied to one end of the belt,- and .thenthese are used to aline the other two members tolthe other end ofthebelt. 7 By taking this precaution there is no danger of. the fastenersbeing incorrectly alin-ed.

In accordance with the provisions of the as any other, all,

straighten it out patent statutes, 1 have described the principle of inyinvention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to representthe best embodiment thereof, but I desire to bare 1t understood that canbe carried out in other ways.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent. is: I i 1. ."Lbelt fastener which is adaptedto be bent around a pintle and forn'ied of sheet metal with prongs andalining fingers atone end and staggnared prongs at the other end.

A belt fastener formed of sheet metal with prongs at each extremity, andalternate bars and alining fingers between the extremities, the barsbeing bent upon thernselves at substantially a right angle and thefingers bent to lie substantially parallel to the major portion of thebars and the prongs bent at an angle to their bases.

3. A belt fastener having integral prongs and alining lingers at oneend, the said alining fingers being adapted to be bent around the end ofthe belt, thereby constituting a fastening additional to the prongs.

the apparatus shown is merely illustrative andthat the invention +1. Ina beltcoupling a pair of members each comprising a body portion and aplnrality of, projections formed integrally there with, said projectionsbeing bent at right angles to the plane form a stop for the belt andhaving a portion bent over the belt, substantially as described.

In a belt-coupling a pair of members each comprising a body portion anda phi rality of rejections formed integrally there with, saidprojections being bent at right angles to the plane of the body portionto form a stop for the belt, and then parallel therewith, substantiallyas described.

This sperilication S1gned"ftl(l witnessed this fifteenthday ofAprihlQO'l,

oiaonen nnrronisnrrn.

Witnesses:

Jorm Bnonman, A. S.- TnMrmN.

i of 'thehody portion to

